Sideyed - Statement-making Earrings
Back to blogging after a long break!…Well, for now ;) But this branding and product photography photoshoot needed more than a simple post on facebook. You’ll see what I mean!
So I went back to my notes and discovered that this session plan was set in motion allllllllll the way back in January of this year when a talented jewelry maker named Hannah Wray reached out to me for e-commerce style photography for her new jewelry brand and I told her….”Sorry I don’t really offer that, here are some other photographers I recommend.” She thanked me and we moved on. About a month later I got another message from Hannah, this time asking if we could talk about more of a branding style session that happened to also include stock photos of her jewelry, and this time I finally put on my listening ears and set up a call to talk more about what she needed. OH MY GOSH, I am so glad she didn’t hire anyone I recommended to her in the beginning, because what followed that phone call has been pure magic.
I (wrongly) initially assumed Hannah’s request was for a bulk, high volume style jewelry business, and that her photo needs were probably the run of the mill images you see for most trendy boutiques and online shopping platforms. And I feel SO dumb I almost missed the opportunity to create photos together with someone who turned out to be an extremely creative, independent artist who personally designs, sources materials, and hand-makes all of her jewelry. She’s a veteran military linguist, hairdresser, a cat mom, a vintage-loving master thrifter, a style icon, and her mission is to create earrings that make a statement AND are easy to wear because all of her designs weigh 0.5oz or LESS.
Hannah came into this process with such a clear vision for her brand, Sideyed. Her earrings are definitely statement pieces with a super cool vintage flair, they are a luxury handmade product, and they’re also the kind of style she envisions being worn anywhere from formal functions to grocery store trips. Our session planning together included a lot of talk about textures and wanting everything to feel really elevated, but not overly polished. She wanted it to really feel like you can wear these earrings however and whenever you want, and she definitely wanted some sideye poses that nodded back to the brand name and idea that yeah, you may get some side eye glances wearing them because they’re made to be bold and stand out!
Hannah created boards for each earring design, almost giving them their own character and mood going into the session. Honestly, I was spoiled to basically have a built-in creative director throughout the whole process while my assistant Sharron and myself helped with the photoshoot day styling and coordination. A lot of our time was spent photographing the earrings on Hannah (did I mention she was also her own model and hair stylist - what can’t she do?!), and getting the necessary Shopify stock photos, but I also loved the opportunity to photograph Hannah with some of her sketches, drawing tools, prototypes and materials for her About page (scroll back up to see those earlier in the blog). There is something really inspiring to me about seeing an artist at work, and I hope you guys feel that through these photos as well.
I think I could go on and on, really. I’m so on board with this brand and for everything Hannah is building. Her online store officially launched a couple weeks ago, so all that’s left now is to tell you how to shop - get over to https://shopsideyed.com/ and pick your own favorite statement making earrings! Congratulations Hannah!!!! Thank you for inviting me to be part of this launch!
